Folie a Deux
by AryanCoconuts
Summary: Armin Arlert is a regular freshman at a college in New York. Annie Leonhart is the terrifying woman he falls madly in love with. They're both fucked up in their own way, but they each might be just the thing the other needs. (Originally published on AO3)
1. 1: Two Blondes, One Kick

'Is my class boring you, Mr Arlert?'

Armin's head promptly rose, eyes fluttering open to stare in confusion at the one who beckoned, a rather irked teacher standing with her folded arms. As the blonde wiped the drool from his chin and readjusted himself, all he could think about was how much he hated living with Eren Jaeger.

He didn't hold it against him of course, he realised that sex was a healthy part of relationships, and that Eren was perfectly within his rights to get down and dirty with Mikasa whenever they wanted. It was an annoyance, however, that he chose to do this almost every night, usually just as Armin had decided to retire for the evening. At first it hadn't affected him that much, he just accepted that there was nothing he could to to prevent it, and started drinking an extra coffee in the mornings. However, when he began to notice himself drifting off during his classes, Armin began to long for the days when Eren would stay up watching re-runs of old tv shows obnoxiously loud instead.

'N-no, Professor Hanji, please continue,' he mumbled, weary blue gaze stained with an unmistakable hint of guilt. Hanji sighed, rolled her eyes and continued to explain whatever it was she had been going on about. Armin had missed most of it, as he was painfully aware, and as usual would have to spend a few hours catching up online. _To hell with it_ he thought, if I'm going to catch up anyway then what's the point in staying for the rest. With a dejected sigh he reluctantly decided to depart. Picking up his laptop and shoving it clumsily into his backpack, he climbed up the stairs and (with quite a large effort) pushed open the mahoghany double doors at the back of the lecture hall and made his way off campus.

As he made his way down the empty street, a light drizzle of rain tumbled down out of the cloudy sky bus stop down the road was crowded, full of people seeking shelter from the downpour. Businessmen and -women mostly, their briefcases dangling haphazardly from their hands. As he approached, in the distance he saw the approaching bus in the distance, and panicked. He usually caught the last bus of the night, being as he had recently switched to late classes due to his tiredness. Beginning to jog, he clumsily sauntered down the street, rushing to get to the stop and fighting to ignore the already viciously burning stitch in his abdomen.

While he finally leapt (with great difficulty due to his legs almost collapsing beneath him) up the step and through the door, he heard a quiet chuckle resonate through the bus. Combing the seats for the source of the noise as a dark red blush crept up through his cheeks, he spotted a small blonde girl near the front, with a hand over her mouth in an attempt to muffle her laughter. He swiftly turned around, paid the driver and walked to the back of the bus, slumping into the farthest seat from the mysterious giggler.

Armin sat perfectly still during the start of the bus's journey, the youth's socially awkward nature becoming increasingly more evident due to the embarassment he currently felt. Slowly, his thoughts would shift, away from the woman's hurtful response and more towards...the actual woman herself. Though her face was obscured beneath the hood of her baggy black hoodie, Armin could've sworn that he recognised her, her tone of voice, her small stature, her hair, it seemed oddly familiar. So in his effort to find out where on earth he even knew her from, he spent the entirety of his journey just kinda looking over towards her, eyes narrowed in an inquisitive manner.

Before he knew it, the woman was on her way out, however in her departure she failed to notice a small, folded up envelope fall from her hoodie and onto the floor. When Armin realised that no one else was going to recover the item, he took it upon himself to return it, feebly making his way down the bus, swiping up the object and then hopping off after her.

After doing a double take to check which way she went, he walked briskly after her. She was quite quick for her short stature, so Armin had to make an effort to keep up. But, as he finally got near enough to her he reached out to grab her shoulder...

...and not a second later found himself on the floor, his head throbbing with pain. The small girl was standing over him, a look on her face, with her hand drawn back for a punch. 'Wait!' he exclaimed, terrified, flailing both arms up in defence. The woman seemed to recognise this and her agressive stance shifted to become more relaxed all of a sudden. 'What the fuck do you want, asshole?' she spoke, softly yet somehow filled with violent intent. Shakily, Armin mumbled 'I'm so sorry for following you please don't punch me again I just wanted to re-' Armin's voice ebbed into silence and his body froze, eyes widening while he felt his entire form shudder lightly. This strange behaviour prompted the woman's utmost confusion, so she paused for a moment, the hostility in her voice fading slightly, genuine concern taking it's place. "...are... you alright...?" she asked, though no longer violent she was still as cold as ever.

Armin did not respond, in fact he didn't even register the question, he was too concerned with the warm puddle emerging beneath his head. _Is that...oh...blood...o-oh...bl...blo..._ And at that moment, amidst a harsh mixture of pain, shock and blood loss, the boy promptly passed out.

". . .fuck."


	2. 2: Emergency rooms and familiar faces

A dark and dreary looking ER room with rain pattering against the misty grey windows, almost dead silent save for the distant chattering of the doctors and staff, and the harsh stormy winds that roared against the building's creaking walls.

Annie Leonhardt was used to these environments.

To go back to a place like this was not something that she had expected today, and something that much to her annoyance, could have been easily been avoided. But alas, here she sat, slumped into her chair, that solemn icy gaze of hers locked onto the unconscious body of the boy that she had knocked out cold. It wasn't even that hard a kick she reasoned to herself. Sure, he had a concussion and needed 7 stitches but it wasn't her fault...not entirely at least. Had she expected the kid to be as weak as he was moronic, she would have obviously held back a little more. But it was his weakness that stopped her from leaving him passed out and bloodied on the curb, yet it was not pity that provoked these feelings, it was a genuine sense of empathy...just strong enough to make her regret cracking the dork's head open.

Though regardless, this was definitely not an ideal situation. Her life was already a mess prior to this, failing college, struggling to pay the bills for her shitty one bedroom apartment, she did not need assault charges added onto it, especially not just because her honed instincts mistook some nerdy brat for an actual threat. She could have walked now and she realised this, but at this point she didn't have the energy so instead she elected to wait patiently for the boy's awakening.

That moment eventually came and he weakly emerged from the blankets of the hospital bed, his fingers tracing against the damp blood stained bandages coiled around his head. It took him a while to come to, but Annie however had waited long enough, and instead of letting him properly awaken, she called out to him promptly while he assessed his own physical state. "Hey, asshole."

In response the recently awoken brat screamed out loudly, leaping clumsily backwards the pillow as he plunged into an immediate and very visible state of panic and alert, much to Annie's own amusement. Letting out a quiet chuckle, she tilted her head, examining the look of fear that spread across teen's features before glancing away and mumbling. "I really scare you that much...?" The boy gulped, still speechless. That was answer enough for her. "Hm... suppose I did do a number on you, yeah..." she continued, eyeing the cowering figure in the corner of her eye. "I'm sorry...well...actually no, not quite, not until I get a good reason for why the you were following me. What are you, some sort of fucking creep?" In response to the accusation, the blonde let out a series of squealed "no's" before trying to explain his actions. "No, no, no no i-it was nothing like that I swear! I-...I was just..." he paused, murmuring nonsensically and biting his lip, hands ruffling through his blond sweat-drenched locks. "I-..I can't...I can't remember why, I really can't!

The last thing I recall was the kick and the blood and then I woke up and..." If he had continued into his rant, Annie sure as hell didn't hear, she just stared blankly with an utterly unimpressed glare and folded arms. She broke this silence with a short and weary sigh, immediately followed by the announcement of her verdict "Just...forget it. You're...annoying... but I can see you're harmless so, I'm sorry." The tiny woman got to her feet and walked to his bedside, failing to notice fact he was rearing away and extending her own hand awkwardly in a half hearted greeting. "Annie. Annie Leonhardt." She did however notice the quivering frail form of the boy gradually grow still, his wide eyes glued to the sight of her hand, a glimmer of disbelief crossing his face. Did he expect more hostility? Annie wondered, well she couldn't blame him if he did. Slowly, an uncomfortable sheepish grin formed upon the lips of her once victim, and he shook her hand in response. "I'm Armin, Armin Arlert." he grunted a tad on the shake, perhaps her grip was too tight, or the male still too weak, either way it hurt him. "Nice to m-...meet you..." he stuttered hesitantly, but Annie only scoffed, folding her arms as she strolled back to the armchair at the foot of his bed. "Whatever you say, Armin...oh, and you have 7 stitches by the way." she added nonchalantly as soon as she saw him running his fingers along the area of his wounds.

Armin winced slightly as he continued to run his hand along the bandages, giving the girl a shaky nod before readjusting in his bed. "Wait...so, you...you brought me here?" He asked, looking up at her in disbelief as he said it, being met only with a quiet nod in response, yet the boy still did not seem to understand. "W-Wait...so...did you call an ambulance or...?" Annie sighed quietly, shaking her head while she sipped a mug of lukewarm coffee, lazily twiddling with her platinum blonde hair. "I didn't have my phone on me, and from the distance it was a lot quicker just to carry you, so I did that." As she said it, she didn't consider it being such a difficult concept for him to grasp, yet when her gaze went back to lock onto him, there he sat, looking as surprised as a startled baby animal, eyes widened to their limit. "You...actually carried me here? Wow...you're a lot stronger than you look." the boy mumbled, voice ebbing, perhaps he found it difficult to concede a compliment to the woman who had smacked him into unconsciousness with a single strike. "Yeah, I know." she said with a casual shrug. "But...you are awfully light...but then again, considering how skinny you are." the Boy let out a quiet shriek, the second he realised he was shirtless, a wave of embarassment came over him, pale skin consumed by a crimson blush as the boy frantically reached for the covers, pulling them up to cover his bare torso. This embarassment would only increased when he peered over to see Annie looking at him, a faint smirk of amusement forming over her lips. It's pathetic how easily he gets embarassed...Idiot...he's not even that bad looki-...ng...did that thought really just come into my head?.

Before she could mentally scold herself, the doors suddenly came swinging open, and in came a figure most familiar. "Armin! Are you alright!" he yelled as he stormed to the injured boy's bedside, his voice loud and thick with concern. It was none other than Eren Jaeger, the more often than not insufferable lover of Annie's good friend Mikasa.

"Eren..?" the two blondes called in unison, much to the confusion of everyone in the room. "Wha...H-...Annie?!" Eren swivelled around to face the tiny woman, arching a brow as he did. "What are you doing here...? Do you two know each other?" he asked, looking back towards the injured Armin. "Well erm...I...I-I slipped on the curb by the bus, a-and well..." Armin continued clumsily constructing an excuse, why? Annie didn't have the faintest of clues...was he threatened by her? Or perhaps...was this his way of trying to get her out of trouble? Whatever it was, watching him try to lie was borderline painful, so bluntly she intervened. "I kicked him into unconsciousness and then carried him into the hospital." she said in a manner oh so casual it was almost scary, her tone ripe with it's usual air of cold. At this, Eren didn't seem surprised at all, but it certainly annoyed him.  
Not like it's hard to piss off the hothead, but whatever.

"What?! Why the hell would you do something like that?!" He yelled inquisitively, Armin's voice breaking into a series of stifled grunts, the noises stopping once he had failed to keep Eren from anger. "I had a rough day...then some panting dude ran over and touched me, I thought he was an attacker. Oh, and in my defence, if it was my best kick, your little friend would have had his head cracked open before he even hit the pavement." She tilted her head to glare up at him, staring daggers through that wintry gaze of hers. But unlike Armin, Eren wasn't intimidated by Annie, but all those in this room knew fully well that Eren Jaeger wasn't intimidated by anyone, the difference being that while Armin thought of this as courage, Annie saw it as mere stupidity. When Eren stepped forward to further scold the woman, he felt himself stopped as Armin reached forward, tugging on Eren's shirt with both arms. "E-Eren, stop...I-It's alright, I've forgiven her. It was my fault...and she's the one who carried me over here, so.." Armin frowned as he pleaded to his best friend, weakly gripping the fabric of his shirt in a feeble attempt to pull him back. When Eren saw this expression, he trembled slightly, the blind anger slowly being released in the form of a heavy dejected sigh and he nodded, expressing his reluctant agreement only to be cut off by the sound of his phone ringing. "Probably Mikasa. I gotta take this, hang on." and with that, he left once more, leaving the other two alone once again.

Once Armin nodded to him, he looked away, and back to Annie, however he noticed something particularly odd. Her eyes, those glinting glacial orbitals, they had changed. Whereas before they exhibited either anger or no emotion at all, here they seemed different, showing only utter surprise. "Hey, W-What is it...?" Armin asked her. The Girl paused for a brief moment, staring at him with an absolutely confounded expressionwhat...is... She shook her head, pushing those thoughts aside, eyes swiftly returning to their natural state. "H-Hm...? Oh. Uhh, just...for what you did, calming your friend down. I...thank you." the last words were mumbled at best, but they still made Armin grin. "D-Don't mention it...I know Eren can be a pain when he gets mad, and it looks like you know that too but, his will is good...always. Even if he does come off a bit strong. How do you two know eachother anyway?" Annie blinked, quietly adjusting her hair. It didn't take much to see that at this point her mind at this point was clearly elsewhere. "Through Mikasa. She's probably my best friend, and she spends an awful lot of time with him. So yeah, I have to too sometimes." Annie slowly stepped up from the armchair, grabbing her phone from the side and tucking her hands into the pockets of her hoodie. "Your Mikasa's friend?" Armin questioned, before finally he came across the realisation, something that he almost forgot was swimming through his mind. "That's right! When we met on the bus, I knew i'd seen you from somewhere. You go to the same college too, right?" He asked, to which he recieved a curt nod as response. "I do...I d-..um, listen, I need to take off. I've got things to take care of and with your friend here now, If I stayed I'd only be a burden." she murmured, giving him a weak grin, before staring back at the wall. "Oh..." What seemed like a flicker of disappointment flashed against the boy's baby blue eyes, and he frowned, peering over at the girl. "You wouldn't. B-Be a burden, I mean..." he stuttered, clearing his throat. "I...wouldn't? What do you mean?" she asked in response. Shyly, Armin began mumbling, his eyes scanning the ground in that typical awkward manner she was already so used to. "No, I just...I-I like...I like having you around, Annie." She paused briefly, staring at him with an entirely blank expression, the earlier look of surprise threatening to break through into visibility, receding once she finally managed to end her fit of stunned silence, feigning a calm tone to once again hide any hint of emotion. "Regardless, I do need to get going. Yeah..." she opened the door, but before she could take a single step she stopped, letting out an inaudible sigh, and then tilting her head around to look upon him one final time. "I'll see you around...Armin."

She strode down the corridors at a quick pace, swiping up her earphones and putting them in, completely ignoring Eren and whatever lovey-dovey crap he was rambling about, proceeding fast to the exit.

Why...? she pondered to herself. I yelled at him...I knocked him utterly senseless...I practically broke his skull and...he "enjoys my company"?...

What the fuck is with that kid?


End file.
